Protest group covers the town with new anti-Dwight Ball signs

The protest group thatplastered posters around St. John's calling for Premier Dwight Ball's resignation says itwill keep fighting the Newfoundland and LabradorLiberals, after their signs were taken down on Monday by outside workers hired by government.

Adam Pitcher, who works with theactivist groupNL Rising, is one of the men who created the signs that showapicture of Dwight Ball and the word "resign."

Pitcher says his group will continue their anti-budget efforts in Newfoundland and Labrador, and will replace the posters that were taken down along Prince Philip Drive in St. John's.

"There's good spots now for us to put up more posters, and since they said we could put up more posters, we'll do that," Pitcher told CBC Radio's On The Go.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Transportation and Works Minister Al Hawkins said employees in his department made the decision to pull down the protest signswithout consulting him or other elected officials.

• Government paid for removal of anti-Dwight Ball protest signs

He said he would have handled things differently, and that the protesters were free toreposttheir signs.

New posters

True to their word, Pitcher and his group put up a series of new posters between 9:30 p.m. Monday and 1 a.m. Tuesday.

"We certainly put them back up and we expanded our reach. I believe they went up Higgins Line, there's some down by the old stadium where the grocery store is now, there's some up on Topsail Road, out [in the] Stavanger Drive area," he said.

"There's a little bit everywhere and we certainly wanted to keep the pressure on and let the government know that we're not going away."

Pitcher said his group will not back down until their voice is heard and Ball resigns.

Paper petition

Pitcher also said a paper petition is in the works calling for the resignation of Ball and ministers Bennett, Coady and Kirby. He claimedthe petitionwill be presented in the House of Assembly by all 10 opposition MHAs.

"It just got finalized, and we've had Paul Lane helping us out with that, making sure all the wording is good," Pitcher said.

"As soon as you get three signatures on each paper petition say you get 10 paper petitions with three signatures on each then they can start presenting them in the House, and I believe all 10 of them are going to do that."

Despite the strong response from opposition, however, Pitcher said he hasn't heard anything from government.

"They haven't been listening from the start.I don't think they've been listening since they got in office," he said.

Pitcher said he was skeptical that workerswould remove the first set ofpolitical posters on their own, and called it an infringement of free speech.

He said his group was planning more events in the coming weeks, including a march on Wednesday.

"We've got our point across," saidPitcher.

"We're not going away until this government comes down."